In article ,
Sacha wrote:

Well, it depends. You shouldn't expect all mod. cons if you rent a
cottage in rural West Cork, or the more rural parts of France. The
local people would just get round any problems, which is why they
expect you to. We fairly often had to wash things by hand and
string them up around the house. If you think that's bad, you would
really not like some of the places that I have lived in :-)

Expensive cottage in South Devon! LIVING somewhere is different in that
you usually have some idea of what you're going to before you move in.

Don't you bet on it :-) That didn't and doesn't apply to anyone
where they are posted by their employer.

If you rent a cottage from a brochure or the internet, as most people
do, and it's advertised as having certain facilities and machinery,
then it's fair to assume those things will be in working order. It's a
bit like renting a villa with a pool in Spain, only to arrive there and
discover the filter hasn't worked for 3 weeks and still isn't fixed.
Isn't that the usual situation? :-)

But I agree that things that are major features should be present
and at least work, up to the level a reasonable person would expect.
That will vary, however, and the standards in West Cork are (or, at
least, were) not the same as in the more developed parts of the UK.
I was actually quite surprised that it had an indoor toilet.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.